'The Jim Gaffigan Show' Season 2 ramps up the celeb cameos and the absurdity

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If Franz Kafka had been a comedian, he might have written The Jim Gaffigan Show.

In Season 2 of his TV Land sitcom, which kicks off on June 19 at 10 p.m. ET, Gaffigan and company ratchet up their odd, slightly dystopian world view for more absurd situations and even a bit of social (media) commentary. At the center of it all is the portly, balding, endlessly snacking and entertaining Gaffigan, a truly Kafkaesque figure who is constantly waking up in a world that he barely understands.

Gaffigan in The Trial

Image: tv land

Gaffigan’s thoughtfully baffled worldview is nowhere more in evidence than in the first few episodes, which I previewed. In them, he comically lays bare the foibles of fatherhood, religion, social media, comedy and fame. This could risk coming off as overbearing and edgy, but instead an innate affection, evident in all of Gaffigan’s comedy, shines through. He’s derisive of religion in "The Calling," while simultaneously seeking deeper meaning. He tears into social media and political correctness in "The Trial," while reminding jurors, through a series of pop song lyrics, that we’re really all just one big family and should stop judging each other.

None of this sounds funny, and yet all of it is – often laugh-out-loud funny. Take "The Trial," in which Gaffigan lampoons Law & Order in structure and content. In the episode, an insensitive Tweet lands Gaffigan in a prison for political correctness, alongside other offenders of our culture and sensibilities, including Gilbert Gottfried and Nickelback. Yes, the real Nickelback.

Gaffigan has become a sort of patron saint of New York comedians who are too rarely seen on television. In Seasons 1 and 2, his stand-up colleagues play countless bit parts and character roles. "The Trial" features featurescameos by Carrot Top and Artie Lange. In episode 3, "Ugly," Tig Notaro plays a construction worker who catcalls Gaffigan’s wife, played by Ashley Williams, resulting in a riot on the construction site.

Now, in Season 2, The Jim Gaffigan Show has raised the game. Celebrity cameos are everywhere. In "The Trial," Gaffigan defends himself against a prosecutor played by a particularly impressive Zachary Quinto. In "The Calling," Jerry Seinfeld appears as a sort of comedy angel, and in "Ugly," which may be the strongest of the early Season 2 episodes, Alec Baldwin appears as himself.

Throughout the show, Gaffigan remains a good-hearted but unrepentant slob, a lay-about, coward and goofball. His willingness to be the butt of the joke, while shining a light on our own shallow definitions of attractiveness, is remarkable and, yes, hilarious. He’s also endearing and, aside from his relentlessly upbeat wife, certainly warmer than the characters who surround him.

Zachary Quinto (right) and Ashley Williams in The Jim Gaffigan Show season 2

Image: tv land

For instance, as his best friend Dave, Adam Goldberg plays a self-involved, skirt-chasing jerk. Gaffigan mostly reacts with disbelief to much of what he says. Michael Ian Black, who gets a pretty decent story line in one of this season's early episodes, is pompous and annoying. His distaste for Gaffigan only makes us like the comedian more.

Stylistically, The Jim Gaffigan Show, which is shot mostly on location in downtown Manhattan, seems freer this season, unafraid to go-full-on fantasy (as it does in "The Trial") or to push its one-dimensional characters, like the overly optimistic Jeannie Gaffigan, in new directions.

The show can also be wickedly self-knowing. My favorite moment of Season 2 thus far is when Gaffigan’s mostly useless agent pitches him on an acting job that is virtually the same, small part that the real Jim Gaffigan played in the 2004 Jennifer Garner film, 13 Going on 30. My wife and I love that film and, as his agent described the role, we shouted out that it was the same one he'd played in the film, a fact Gaffigan soon shared with his clueless agent.

The Jim Gaffigan Show is probably too unusual and, perhaps, too smart for network television, but I’m glad it’s found a home on TV Land. I just hope Gaffigan's audience finds him there, so that we can settle in for the rest of Season 2 and the promise of a Season 3, in which Gaffigan is certain to continue waking up as a bug, each and every episode.

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